Ron Mager,
President & COO
Machinery Systems, Inc.

 What’s Up?

In a word: lots!   The last quarter has been pretty hectic and lot’s of fun.  My wife, Joyce, says I am not happy unless I have too much to do.  So I am pretty happy.

I will touch briefly on a myriad of things that have been going on in the last quarter and try to tie them to the next several quarters.

Joe’s Retirement.   I think everyone knows by now that Joe officially retired on March 31st.  Joe did a great job in preparing himself for this from a personal perspective.  His calendar is probably booked through the entire Summer with a whole bunch of things he has been wanting to do but never had the time.  Joe and Bonnie will also be taking a cruise to Alaska in late July that they are really looking forward to – of course, those who know Joe will understand that this is an educational cruise sponsored by Hillsdale college.

Joe worked hard to prepare the company for his retirement as well.  The MSI leadership transition actually began in October ’03 when Joe assumed the role of Chairman and promoted me to President.  Joe gradually stepped back the past four and a half years and really turned over the reins to Bob and I about a year ago.

As you read  this edition of the EyeWatch you will learn more about the events celebrating Joe’s next chapter in life.

The EyeWatch has been Joe’s “baby” for as long as I can remember, and has become pretty popular within our customer base and industry.  Obviously we will continue the EyeWatch and the format will likely evolve somewhat over time.  Dorothea Rynearson, our Marketing Director is the new Editor-in-Chief.

Speaking of Marketing, you will see some new things related to our branding and sub-branding activities released over the next several months.  I am not going to tell you too much right now besides that we are pretty excited about it.  I will just tease you instead.

You will also see an informative article by Dale Atteberry, VP of Systems Financial Credit in this edition of the EyeWatch on some different angles of the Economic Stimulus package.  I believe almost everyone is aware that this exists by now; however, it’s our job to make sure our people as well as our customers fully understand both the benefits and nuances of this tremendous incentive and we will be working hard on this over the next several months.

My last topic relates to our Market and the ”Recession”.  Recession?  What Recession?!  At Mazak's recent annual Open House last month I spoke to many of our customers and prospects about their levels of business.  Without exception, the responses were positive such as “Great!”, “Up from last year”, “About the same as last year, but last year was pretty darn good.”   Our market remains very strong and will continue to be strong for the foreseeable future.  There are lots of positive factors (strong exports, global demand, low interest rates, the economic stimulus package, etc.) in the economy that we don’t hear in the news every day.  Instead, we only hear the bad stuff.  There are even economists who state we are in a recession.  I urge everyone not to accept what you hear at face value and look behind the numbers.

As always, your feedback is more than welcome – especially as the format of our EyeWatch and our marketing activities evolve.

Copyright © 1997 Machinery Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Headquarters: 614 E. State Parkway; Schaumburg, IL 60173  847.882.8085   Fax 847.882.2894
Revised: May 06, 2008.